A blog about individual and community development using new information and communication technologies, especially e-learning, open educational resources, open source, Web 2.0, blogs, wikis, social networking, social bookmarking, semantic web and other social software.

2013-10-30

zunia.org -
OGP was founded on the premise that ‘good ideas come from everywhere.’ Eight months into my role at the OGP Support Unit, I’m completely convinced of the truth of this statement. However, I also recognize that it’s not easy to identify, capture and disseminate these ideas to a diverse global audience.

2013-10-28

Publish What You Fund (PWYF) released its annual Aid Transparency Index and advanced the claim that transparent aid information is a “necessary condition to enable…social change”. However, earlier this week, Duncan Edwards of the Institute of Development Studies argued that the rosy prescription of “openness + ICTs = development outcomes” is fundamentally flawed.

The apparent dissonance between these two views is, in our view, reconcilable. Open data is certainly not sufficient to provoke positive change, but it is also not inconsequential. Open data can be catalytic when complementary efforts are in place to address several other important conditions: incentives are in place for donors to supply useful information; the intended beneficiaries of aid have an understanding of how the information supplied by donors is relevant to their interests; and local stakeholders in the developing world have the ability to put such data to effective use.

2013-10-24

educationnews.org - Deborah Schussler, associate professor in Penn State’s College of Education, said that ‘dispositions’ — rapid, calculated judgments and responses — should be included as one element to be evaluated in teacher education programs. According to Schussler, it is important to clarify and build dispositions in teacher education to help future teachers to be better prepared and morally sensible.Explaining dispositions in education, Schussler said they are a teacher’s quick decisions or understandings based on the perceptions of his/her environment and how they affect future actions, Pennsylvania State University said in a statement .

theglobeandmail.com - Jennifer Feschuk already had one degree when she started at Royal Roads University in Victoria last year, but she still had some pre-school jitters before her classes began.The first day involved the typical tour and meet-and-greet with classmates, and she was given time to look around and get her bearings. But unlike her first postsecondary experience, this wasn’t taking place in person – it was all being done online.

2013-10-20

huffingtonpost.com - Every day of the week, The Pollination Project awards $1000 seed grants to individuals working in areas like sustainability, social justice, community health and wellness, arts and media. Our "pollination philanthropy" model of giving money directly to people, instead of established entities, is intended to help change-makers launch new ideas -- and teachers have unique opportunities to strike at the roots and create a more just, peaceful, healthy future for us all.

2013-10-18

zunia.org - Aid for Trade has certainly helped to shift the aid debate towards building productive capacities. According to the WTO/OECD database, Aid for Trade is mostly disbursed to productive capacity-building projects and trade-related infrastructure. Until 2009, transport and storage, energy, and agriculture accounted for 80 per cent of Aid for Trade resources, and were identified by LDCs as priority areas reported in the Aid for Trade evaluation survey.

edutopia.org - There is an abundance of math open educational resources on the web. So many, in fact, that Education Week asked, " Why is There More Open Content for Math than English? "Common Core is driving a lot of the growth in open education production and curation, with new databases and sources popping up left and right. It can be overwhelming to wade through everything, and find a source that works for your classroom.

2013-10-17

theguardian.com - Many foreign students are running the text of their work, readings and lectures through translation software multiple times. Photograph: Gary S Chapman/Getty ImagesWho's going to grade all that homework?Those of us who are engaged in teaching "massive open online courses", or Moocs , find ourselves answering a lot of questions these days, and that's one we hear a lot.One month into my own effort for Northwestern University, I've heard so many versions of that one on the street, in meetings, and even when doing TV interviews, that I have a quick and facile answer:

m.bbc.co.uk - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent17 October 2013 Last updated at 01:22 Blue Peter generation: Social mobility had not reached education in the 1960sThe level of qualifications achieved by adults now in their 40s, 50s and 60s was influenced by social background as much as their own intelligence, according to a long-term study from the University of Oxford.It found that children of the same ability went on to achieve very different levels of exam results.

2013-10-16

theguardian.com - Australian researchers have developed the “first rigorous framework” on how to relocate animals displaced due to climate change.The study, conducted by academics from four Australian universities and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), devised a formula on how to decide whether to relocate a species, which species to prioritise for reintroduction and where and how to move them.

bps-research-digest.blogspot.com - Up until about the age of seven, children across the world show similar levels of sharing behaviour as revealed by their choices in a simple economic game. The finding comes courtesy of Bailey Houseand his colleagues who tested 326 children aged three to fourteen from six different cultural groups: urban Americans from Los Angeles; horticultural Shuar from Ecuador; horticultural and marine foraging Fijians from Yasawa Island; hunter-gathering Akas from the Central African Republic; pastoral, horticultural Himbas from Namibia; and hunter-gatherer Martus from Australia.

2013-10-15

zunia.org - Africa , global development , ICT , ict4d , icts , internatinoal development , mobile technologies , public policy , sustainable development , Health , Open DataIn Kenya, the open data movement has allowed creation of health maps to monitor the spread of diseases such as malaria. These applications combine the power of technology with the appeal of a simple-to-use map and the transparency of an open data platform.

zunia.org - Each year, Somali migrants around the world send approximately $1.3bn to Somalia in an expression of solidarity, faith, patriotism, and generosity. These flows represent a significant share of Somalia’s economy and help to reduce Somalia’s reliance on assistance from foreign governments and international organizations.Continued support from the Somali diaspora is essential for Somalia to successfully emerge from its protracted humanitarian emergency and political crisis and build the foundations for its long-term development.

theverge.com - Twitter is moving more aggressively into the world of journalism, building a new alert system for breaking news and hiring someone to build new partnerships with the media industry. Together, the moves point to a service that is as much a broadcaster as it is a social network, owning live events with a core product that predicts its users’ interests without having to ask for them. Whether it realizes that vision remains anyone’s guess — but if its latest experiment proves successful, Twitter will have gotten a lot closer to it.

mashable.com - Facebook on Monday confirmed the acquisition of Onavo , a Palo Alto-based startup that makes data-compression software to help minimize data usage on smartphones. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Onavo will remain a "standalone brand" within Facebook, according to Onavo's blog post.Three-year-old Onavo will also retain its Tel Aviv office, giving Facebook a new office on the ground in Israel.

2013-10-14

edutopia.org - My story began while I had to stay home to convalesce from a recent spine surgery. That sounds bad, but its all good now, so no matter. While I was home recovering, iPad in hand, I began exploring. Edutopia was a good place to start. I had already been using the resources on this site for several years, and had meant to post a note, or read an article... One in particular, commenting on the value of Twitter for establishing a PLN, piqued my interest in exploring that medium.

nbcnews.com - 1 hour agoAn 11-year-old boy from Florida has designed a new kind of sandbag to better protect life and property from the ravages of saltwater floods. His invention took top honors at a science fair this week, earning him a $25,000 check and a trip to Costa Rica."Living in Florida, I'm keenly aware of hurricanes and saltwater flooding," the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge grand prize winner Peyton Robertson , who is a sixth grader at the Pine Crest School in Ft.

pcmag.com - Slow Internet and network performance are annoying. However it's hard to troubleshoot issues when you just feel that performance is slow. You've got to know the kind of performance you are getting in order to improve it. Let's take a look at a few ways you can actually gage and monitor network performance.

The first order of business is to understand the difference between bandwidth and throughput.

sites.google.com - Hello and welcome to Becoming an eTeacher, a five-module course on getting online and becoming an eTeacher.We will follow Fifi, our teacher, as she learns the essential skills needed to begin eTeaching.This course is in five parts, preceded by an introduction video (to the right). You can preview the modules to see which of them you want or need to complete on its own, or you can complete them all one-by-one in your own time, at your own pace.

itouchthefuture.pbworks.com - When properly configured, tablet devices like the iPad or those running an Android OS are great tools for school leaders. There are all kinds of productivity and utility apps that can be used to streamline tasks and help leaders make better use of their valuable time and resources.Use the links on this page to explore the possibilities.The categories listed here also work well as titles for folders you might want to create on your iPad.

npr.org - Mark Graham/Stefano De Sabbata / Internet Geographies at the Oxford Internet InstituteThe U.K.'s Oxford Internet Institute has put together an interesting illustration of the most popular websites around the world. Not surprising, Google and Facebook dominate the globe.We're not quite sure what the data mean, if anything, but you can be the judge.The institute, using data from the Web analytics site Alexa , crunched the numbers and came up with this:

timeshighereducation.co.uk - After the hype is over, e-learning will be the norm, predicts Stephen HaggardEducation by computer software will be the norm for post-school learning. Most of us will earn our degrees at a screenThe supernova effects of massive open online courses include a warping of time. Academics running Moocs report working 100-hour weeks. FutureLearn invites applause for its burn rate: 10 months from zero to a full clutch of courses.

huffingtonpost.com - "I chose to live. I withstood the pressure, the bad name-calling and jokes -- being called a 'fag.' I am a survivor... and today I try to educate others that taking your life is not the answer." --Josie, 21For those of us who know a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ) young person, we likely see a strong, empowered, motivated, creative and unique individual. However, 15 years after the brutal hate crime murder of Matthew Shepard at the University of Wyoming, there are still LGBTQ young people like Josie who struggle to find safety at college and in their community.

opb.org - Whether it’s an uprising in Egypt or a video of a fake twerking session gone awry , news outlets need to know everything they can about a video before they run with it. That’s where Storyful steps in. The company helps journalists figure out what’s real, and what’s not.“We use the same forensic process of discovery and verification for Syria as we do for hoax videos,” says Executive Editor David Clinch.

futuregov.asia - The Government of India is developing a National Mission on ICT aiming to create a national IT platform connecting all schools, providing students and teachers with opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge.

psychcentral.com - Kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ), a neurobiological disorder characterized by inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity, tend to have a harder time in school because of the disorder.“Research suggests that children with ADHD exhibit deficits in cognitive and achievement testing, lower grades, and an increased use of special education services in comparison with the general population,” said Jacqueline Iseman, Ph.

2013-10-13

teachthought.com - What is a hashtag?A word or phrase preceded by a “#.”How do hashtags work?Twitter can be a busy place with lots of tweets–and thus lots of “noise.”A #hashtag is a way to aggregate tweets that are appended with a hashtag. Picture it like a magnet that attracts all messages categorized by that topical word or phrase.Who can use hashtags?Anyone. When you tweet and want your message to be part of a larger conversation beyond your followers, add a relevant hashtag from the list below to the end of your message, and you’ll automatically reach anyone who is monitoring the same hashtag.

2013-10-11

huffingtonpost.com - At age 8, Maria Keller, of Orono, Minn., learned that not all children own a book. Determined to do something about it, she declared she would donate 1 million books to kids in need by the time she turned 18.Keller not only reached her goal this week, she did it five years early.On Tuesday, a children's book publisher in Mankato, Minn., gave the 13-year-old philanthropist the last 36,000 books she needed to reach her goal , Fox affiliate KMSP reported.

2013-10-10

techcrunch.com - Amazon has announced plans to snap up online education company TenMarks . The company offers an online math curriculum currently, and Amazon VP of Kindle Dave Limp says that together, “Amazon and TenMarks intend to develop rich educational content and applications, across multiple platforms, that we think teachers, parents and students will love.”TenMarks was founded in 2008 and has raised debt funding several times over the last few years.

2013-10-09

huffingtonpost.com - In honor of International Day Of The Girl this Friday, here are the faces of eight young women from around the world whose dreams for the future will inspire you.The beautiful photo series was commissioned by The Girl Effect (a movement created by the Nike Foundation) as part of their declaration for the United Nations to prioritize young women in their goals to fight global poverty. The argument?

2013-10-08

zunia.org - The open government and open data movements are all about empowering citizens, users, and movers-and-shakers by increasing their access information, data and their government. This week we have three major points about how to best take advantage of the doors that opening.Number one comes from The Guardian’s Policy Hub: involve the public in open policymaking, not just in the implementation. Many of the new open government initiatives focus around service delivery, but much less has been centered on opening the process for forming the policy in the first place.

2013-10-05

futuregov.asia -
The Ministry of Education ( MOE ) Brunei officially launch its Media and In-Service Centre or MiSC yesterday, which is a core building block in the transformation of education through e-Hijrah.MiSC is an integral part of MOE ’s efforts in providing relevant, inspiring, and outcomes-focused education resources to students and teachers.

2013-10-04

Just because scholars who seek to publish in open-access journals are open to new forms of peer review, that doesn't mean they all see eye-to-eye -- or know what to expect. As one sting operation shows, many such journals are unable to reject obviously flawed submissions, even as they promise thorough review processes. Meanwhile, other journals are even criticized for being too much like the traditional publishing they aim to reform.

Stewart-Marshall's insight: This is a good discussion of the peer review process and its alternatives - but whilst some open access journals are pushing the boundaries - the issue of review should not to be confused with "open access". Many open access journals have the same peer review process as commercially published journals.

news.tes.co.uk - The latest international university rankings have been published by the Times Higher Education, TES's sister title, and British universities take up three of the top ten ranking institutions.The California Institute of Technology – setting for the popular American “geek” comedy show the Big Bang Theory, comes top of the chart. The rankings look at teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

huffingtonpost.com - We may leave our children with them every day, but do we actually respect them?A new survey released Wednesday by the Varkey Gems Foundation -- a group that seeks to improve education for underprivileged youth -- looked at how citizens around the world view the social standing of teachers.The study, which surveyed thousands of respondents from 21 countries, aimed to determine, in part: Where are teachers respected?

2013-10-02

The potential of ICT for modernisation of education and training has become a key priority for the European Union. In its Communication on Opening Up Education (procedure 2013/2182(INI)), the European Commission ...

2013-10-01

This report summarizes the study’s key findings, situating public access in the context of national development, discussing some disputed issues, and providing recommendations for policymakers, public access practitioners and researchers. The results show that a central impact of public access is the promotion of digital inclusion through technology access, information access, and development of ICT skills. Both users and non-users report positive impacts in various social and economic areas of their lives.